Freeman could not be reached for comment, but the opening for the station's general manager position was posted Thursday on the Sinclair website.

Her exit is the latest in a string of layoffs and departures from the NBC affiliate after Sinclair announced late last year that it was outsourcing the bulk of the station's news operation to its CBS affiliate, WSBT-TV, Channel 22, in South Bend, Ind., in cost-cutting measures.

The new-look and not-so-local half-hour newscasts, broadcast at 6:30 a.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., debuted in early March, with anchors and production in South Bend, and a cadre of reporters and two meteorologists in Toledo.

Freeman arrived at WNWO three years ago as part of a management team of five executives from Fort Wayne brought in to turn around the ratings-challenged station. She is the final member of that group still at WNWO.

In an email sent Monday morning to the station's employees, Freeman wrote, “It is with mixed emotions” that she is leaving Channel 24.

“I have maintained my household with my family in Fort Wayne for the last three years. It has been challenging to say the least but never more so than this spring” with her children involved in sports.